Monday, September 24, 2012

A small town, a new lake and a peregrine falcon



Limfjordens Hus.
Limfjordens Hus, Scandinavian style
motor boat, view from window
Lighthouse
Limfjordens Hus
I had a birthday, which everyone of us has each year of course - it was in September and we decided to go to the northernest place of the insula Salling, where I had heard about a new restaurant on the outmost tip of land at the small town Glyngøre - a town where my father spent many hours of his childhood, sailing and fishing. His home was south of Glyngøre at Nymølle, where his father was the owner of  Nymølle Tilework.

This new restaurant was built about a year ago, in 2011, a blackpainted wood building, the architecture like the stem of a ship, there is a gourmét kitchen, and a boutique where you can buy all kinds of delicacies (especially in connection to fish) and wine. The menu contains a lot of good dishes, especially fish, mussels and oysters. I like fish, but not mussels and oysters. The gourméts can have them in peace for me. The restaurant is called Limfjordens Hus. It was a very lovely place. We had a table by the panorama window with a view to the waters of Limfjorden where sailboats, fishing boats and little old motorboats came passing by. The sun was shining, it was a perfect day and the food was delicious.

Glyngøre

































Glyngøre.
The little cosy town Glyngøre has a unique placement upon an spit of land in the Limfjorden, a land tongue which creates several beaches,  surrounded by high hills, intersected by deep slopes, and giving fine possibilities for fantastic tours, both on land and water. There are some well-developed path systems, and from Glyngøre till the neighbouring town Durup is established a planete road with "the Sun" placed at the tourist bureau in Glyngøre and the outermost planete in Durup. Another biking and hiking path is the old railway, which runs from the harbour of Glyngøre through fields, forests and villages all the way to the town Skive in the southern part of Salling.

Glyngøre harbour
Glyngøre has its roots in water, both ferry and fishing have supported the people of the district since from time immemorial  and created revenues ever since Glyngøre was mentioned for the first time in 1445. The greatest development came with the railway in the 1870s. The Salling railway opened up for a revival of business and increase of population which caused that a church was consecrated in the middle of the town in 1919. Both the industry and the placement of the town at the fjord and the forest have caused that it has developed from two windswept fishing huts into a modern settlement.

The Limfjord-Oyster.
The most wellknown business in Glyngøre is the oyster and mussel  industry. Oysters were in Stone Age an important food - this is obvious when you see the mountains of shells in the several kitchen middens from Stone Age. Oysters became later (Ostrea edulis) a luxurious food, reserved the finest circles, and king Frederik II elevated in 1587 the catch of oysters to a monopoly under the royal house - a socalled kronregalie (regalia) which ordered all oysters, which were presence in Denmark, the property of the Crown. The oyster fishing was for many years a good income for the king, and up to our days it was the Danish monarchy and later the Danish state who leased the right to fish oysters in Denmark. Limfjorden is the only place with large presence today of the oyster, which earlier was common in all Danish waters, and the Ostrea edulis, the flat European oyster, is not being fished in other places than in Denmark. Denmark's export of Limfjord-oyster is ab. 15 million piece a year. The Limfjord-oyster has now got the MSC-mark.

The Blue Mussel.
But I cannot mention the oyster-business without saying something about the blue mussel ( Mytilus edulis) , for this is also one of Glyngøre's wellknown and important exports. 100 % of the Danish mussel-export has the renowned and international MSC-mark (Marine Stewardship Council). The blue mussels in the Limfjorden are cultivated between May and September, and about a couple of thousand tons are harvested each year, the mussels are produced sustainably without or with only little impact of the environment and the other mussel-populations. The whole Danish mussel-export is about 42.500 tons each year.

The Salling Girl
Now! I really had to give you a recipe after all this talk, but I cannot deliver it without copying someone's recipe, and this is not allowed I guess!

Sallingsund Bridge in the background


 The Salling Girl.
An artist (Erik Dahl Nygaard) has created the sculptures of 8 Salling-girls, a 2 meter tall bronze figure, they all wear stilettos. When I saw the sculpture of this girl outside the restaurant I wondered why she stood like that, looking like she had a scoliosis, but  well it must be the artist's idea of a young girl, but then it was because she had to balance on stillettos. The other 7 Salling girls are placed in various towns in the Salling district.  




















 Grynderup Sø.
Public Planche from naturplan.dk

In the afternoon  we went to a new lake which was re-established recently near Glyngøre. Grynderup sø (lake) is a nature restoration project. The purpose is to reduce the outlet of nitrogen into the Limfjorden and to create a better living for birds, animals and plants -  and to give people new possibilities of experiencing nature. The project has been carried through via voluntary agreements with the landowners. The main part of the area is still privately owned, while the Miljøministeriet (environment) has taken over ab. 80 hectare of the northernest part of the area, where the public probably will come. Bike- and hiking paths have been established, areas with tables and benches, parking places and primitive overnight places. Lookout towers give possibility to see the bird life, and in the northern end of the lake is a drawing- ferry in the narrowest place of the oblong lake.

                                                                                                   

 


red admiral
toad, a kid!
elderberry
peregrine falcon, photo: stig bachmann nielsen.




The Peregrine Falcon.
There were still some flowers by the path along the lake, like toadflax and yarrow and some yellow ones, there were dragonflies, too fast for shooting, and there was a tiny, tiny toad, who was looking at us in a very suspicious way.  The elderberry had fruits, ready to pluck for elderberry juice for winter, but there was not enough for both me and the birds, so I let them be. And then - there it came, the highlight of the day - a streak in the air like a flash of light - the peregrine falcon - it came so fast that I saw nothing but a glimpse. But my son took a shot of the noble bird in its speed. And this falcon is really extremely fast. The peregrine falcon is the fastest animal on earth when it is diving.

The peregrine falcon's maximum speed:
Speed is the falcon's forte. If birds of prey were airplanes, then the eagles, the buzzards, the kites would be the gliders, and the falcons would be the jets. Estimates of the maximum speed of a falcon dive are as fast as 273 miles an hour (440 km/h) based on analysis of motion-picture footage of a falcon in full vertical dive taken by the Naval Research Laboratory in England in WWII. Most biologists, however, estimate the falcon's maximum velocity at 150 to 200 miles an hour ( 240 to 320 km/h), which is still faster than any other animal on earth.
(from my article "Falconry in the Middle Ages" from August 2010, on the Thyra-blog) 




photo September 2012: grethe bachmann nielsen; stig bachmann nielsen, naturplan.dk

8 comments:

Wanda..... said...

A belated Happy Birthday, Grethe! Glad it was a perfect day for you and like you I don't eat oysters or mussels either! My youngest sister turns 60 in a few days, on Sept. 29th.

Thyra said...

Thank you very much for good wishes, Wanda. I'm 80 now, an antiquity, but I still feel young inside - and childish - and I hope I'll be as "fresh in the head" as my mother was!!

It's a long time since you've been on your blog, Wanda. Maybe it's because it has been summer and you have been busy with your big family.

Best wishes
Grethe ´)

Teresa Evangeline said...

A Belated Happy Birthday, Grethe! 80 years young! So many adventures still to come and stories to tell! I look forward to reading about them all.

Out on the prairie said...

what a lovely area. I have worked with the falcons and restoring them to this area.I love the shellfish, those oysters looked like some of the best.

Thyra said...

Thank you very much, Teresa. When I was young I thought people were terribly old when they were 50 years, and 80 was quite hopeless. Oh, my, are they still alive?? But it's something else when it's yourself who's in the waggon! 80 years young! Thank you. I want to go on and I want to follow what others are doing!

Grethe ´)

Thyra said...

Hello Steve. It was a lovely place . I wish it was a little closer to where I live. It's very interesting that you have worked with falcons. Then you know all about them. I'm fascinated with those birds.

I cannot eat an oyster. It's alive!

Grethe ´)

stardust said...

Belated happy birthday from me, too, Grethe! You really don’t look that age! I’m not sure whether I can keep blogging like you when I’m at your age. I suppose positive attitude and good diet has kept you in fit both physically and mentally.

I like a seaside town. I like the smell of salty breeze and shimmering water. I like oysters and cook oysters deep-fried in breadcrumbs, stewed oysters, and oyster gratin.

Wish you a healthy and joyful year.

Yoko

Thyra said...

Hello Yoko! Thank you for good wishes and nice compliment, but you'll need a close-up too! ´)

And I'm not that sensible Yoko, for I love good food, and I fight a daily fight with my discipline. When I see the good recipes from Anna on "A Taste of Italy", I'll have to pull myself together and say NO! That's tough. I love Italian food......

Yes, I know what you mean. I love to go to seaside towns, especially the minor ones, they are so charming - and it is good to breathe some salty sea air.

I blame myself that I've got such prejudices when it's about oysters and also octopus, I know they are healthy, but then I like some other food. Like cabbage? Do you like that? I'm teasing you now! Many hate cabbage....

Cheers
Grethe ´)